Wednesday, December 19, 2007

For those of you looking for something to do after Christmas, Smoothwater Ecolodge and the Spring Pulse Poetry Festival is hosting a Poetry and Beer event; A day of Craft Beer Tasting, Outdoor Activities(cross country skiing, snowshoeing, sauna, roll in the snow)and Poetry Readings!

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

/>ChatNoir Books is now stocking copies of the Award-Winning Game of Discovery, Settlement & Trade!

In The Settlers of Catan you control a group of settlers trying to tame the wilds on the remote but rich isle of Catan. Start by revealing Catan's many harbors and regions: plains, meadows, mountains, hills, forest & desert. The random mix creates a different board virtually every game.

Embark on a quest to settle the isle of Catan! Guide your settlers to victory by clever trading and cunning development. Use resource combinations-grain, wool, ore, brick and lumber to buy development cards and build roads, settlements, and cities.

Aquire your resources through trades or lucky dice. But beware! Someone mightcut off your road or buy a monopoly! And you never know when the wily robber might steal away with your precious grains!

When we were in college we used skip classes to watch "The Urban Peasant", he was the first celebrity chief that I enjoyed watching. Not to mention he was Canadian! He will be greatly missed. Urban Peasant James Barber diesCanWest News Service Published: Monday, December 03, 2007

Barber, whose TV show espoused a philosophy of simple yet high-quality food, was the author of 12 cookbooks, two books on where to eat in Vancouver and one children's book.

He was also a regular contributor to such publications as Western Living magazine, Vancouver magazine, the National Post and Pacific Yachting.

CBC News reported Barber was reading a cookbook in his Cowichan Valley home, a pot of soup simmering on the stove, when he died of natural causes Thursday.

"So, he definitely left this world in a way that he would have wanted to," said his widow, Christina Burridge. "But I think he would have been pretty upset about the timing." Read more

Monday, December 3, 2007

Caryn Colman of Smoothwater Outfitters & Ecolodge can usually be found cooking something up and for many years guests of Smoothwaters's have been asking her to publish a cookbook. Caryn considers each request a great compliment, but has been putting off the idea of a book because there have been to many other projects on the go. Finally in 2006 when asked to participate in the Royal Winter Fair representing Temiskaming as a proponent of Culinary Tourism, Caryn decided the time was right to highlight her passion for terroir, or food of the land.

"Celebrating Temiskaming Terroir" is a real delight to read, with tantalizing recipes that will make your mouth water, Caryn brings you on a foodie's dream tour of local eating in the Temiskaming area.

In the same vein as the 100 mile diet Caryn introduces us to "Edible wild Plants", some local food history and the sources out local suppliers that she uses for her meals at Smoothwater.

This is a must have book for anyone living or visiting the Temiskaming area!

The new issue of Exclaim Magazine is in the store. For those of you that have never heard of Exclaim it features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with special focus on Canadian and cutting-edge artists. Content is based on the monthly print publication, publishes 11 issues per year, distributing over 100,000 copies to over 2,600 locations across Canada.(Including Chat Noir Books) Come in and check it out, you can find Film, DVD, Music and Video Game reviews and the best part is it is free.